Tag Archives: Social Media

Six reasons to read blogs (like this one)

I often get people who tell me they are too busy to read blogs in the HR/recruiting space. I just shake my head, because as busy as they might be, I am doing that (and more) every single day. Yes, it’s a conscious effort to do something to enhance my own knowledge, but it has been worth it so far and I can only imagine how much it will continue to impact my career and professional development.

Why do I encourage people to read blogs?

  • It’s an amazing way to increase your creativity.
  • Being satisfied never made anyone great. Stay hungry.
  • You’ll be smarter than those who don’t take the time for it.
  • It’s free.
  • You can save money on a consultant. Seriously.
  • It isn’t someone else’s job to train you. You have to own your own growth.

And that’s just scratching the surface. I position my own use of social media as a competitive advantage. If you want to be successful, work to understand it. As the Social Media Director for NASHRM, I’m always available for a quick chat, whether it’s about social media policies or recruiting with social tools.

It’s not rocket science or brain surgery (or rocket surgery). All it takes is a willingness to learn!

Recruiting via Referral Bonuses ($12k sound good?)

I love the idea of referral bonuses as a recruiting tool and I have a proposal in the pipeline for our leadership team to offer referral bonuses for each position (not just “key” ones). I’ve always wanted to write on them but this great post I saw the other day combined two fun topics for me: social recruiting and referral bonuses.

Here’s a word for word snag from the post. If every job ad looked like this, the world of recruiting would be wildly different.

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It’s our belief that growth is limited only by how much we can surprise, delight and reward our customers with software that rocks. We want to build more, faster and that’s why today, we’re announcing a new effort in bringing talented software engineers to the SEOmoz team.

Have Engineer Friends? Send ‘Em Our Way

Why should you send your engineer friends to SEOmoz? Three big reasons:

  1. They’ll be joining an amazing team at a great company earning top salaries at a place that values their contributions (see below)
  2. You’ll get $12,000 in cash* (OK, probably a check, but still!)
  3. They’ll also get $12,000 in cash**

We’re seeking 4-5 very talented engineers (possibly more) with experience handling large-scale problems like machine learning, web crawling, building and optimizing web services (APIs), coping with large quantities of data and dealing in massively distributed systems. You can learn more about the job requirements here.

Engineers: Challenging Problems, Brilliant Co-Workers & Some Cool Bonuses Await You, Too Continue reading →

But I’m too busy for social media…

trenchhrThis is a tribute to the TrenchHR LinkedIn group created by my friend Charlie Judy. Recently I joined and asked a question about how to respond to people who say they are too busy to use social media tools. In less than 48 hours I had a great number of responses from people who practice HR every day and have combated this issue in their own lives. Read on for some great ideas and a lively discussion on the value of social media in the life of an HR/recruiting professional!

“But I’m too busy already…”

So, when I’m pushing HR people to join LinkedIn, start reading blogs, etc., the first response is usually “but I’m too busy already” or “I don’t have time for something else.” Looking for some good responses to those comments. I can say, “Look at me!” But that really doesn’t help my case. :-) These people think they want to start doing this stuff, but they are talking themselves out of it before they even start. Suggestions?

Ben Eubanks Continue reading →

Social media mentor update (Project:Social)

It’s been almost two whole months since Victorio and I announced Project:Social, and we have had an amazing response. So far there have been three mentees matched with someone who can teach and guide them in the ways of the social media world. Those groups have been our “beta” testers, and we have received some good feedback from them on their experiences.

I even got to plug Project:Social during the SHRM Leadership Conference social media panel. What a great way to help the volunteer leaders in SHRM to learn how to use social media!

Anyway, our participants have also been prolific, from cross posting on blogs to sharing topics/ideas and more.

Lisa and William Continue reading →

SHRM Leadership Conference-Panel on D&I, Flexibility, and Social Media #SHRM10Lead

There was a great panel this morning at the SHRM Leadership Conference about some of the “hot” HR issues, including Diversity and Inclusion, Workplace Flexibility, and Social Media. Check out the short video below where I talk about some of the interesting quotes I heard.

(When I tested the video, it played without the lag between the visual and the audio. But them someone told me it was showing weird for them. Sorry about that if it’s broken, but just listen. As always, it’s the content that counts!)

Video Notes:

  • Eric Petersen-importance of separating the things  a 20 year old does and the things that make a generation different.
  • Lisa Horn-workplace flexibility isn\’t just for women. Yeah.
  • Curtis Midkiff-Continuing the conversation after a conference is one of the best uses for social media.

Yeah, it’s not exactly what I came here for, but I thought they were interesting enough to share. :-)

Social Media, SHRM, and Curt Midkiff

SHRM's social media guy-Curtis MidkiffSHRM has some work to do to catch up on social media, and a while back they hired a guy named Curt Midkiff to make that happen. You may remember me writing about Curtis before (part one and part two). Well, it’s been six months since his first appearance here, and I thought it was time for us to give him a performance review.

What do you think went well this year? What did you accomplish?

When I came to SHRM in April, our team had several initial goals for the balance of the year which were:

  1. Enhance our engagement with some of the key “HR voices” in social media.
  2. Increase engagement in our Annual Conference via social media.
  3. Create some initial beta platforms for engagement via social media.
  4. Be a resource for other SHRM departments and leaders looking to engage external audiences via social media.
  5. Get Ben Eubanks to become a SHRM member :-)
  6. Work with the collaborative social media team here at SHRM to develop a strategic approach to social media.

I think that we achieved some of those in these first six months but there is much more we want to next year!

2. Do you see any areas that need improvement?

Hmmm… Let’s see. Quicker blog posting from my SHRM10 blog squad (my fault guys, we will get all your work up next year in Vegas… :-)). And maybe we need to enhance our cloning software here at SHRM so I can be at six or seven places at once especially all the great social media conferences going on. But seriously, I think that next year offers a great opportunity for growth in the social media space here at SHRM. We have a number of people here at the headquarters that are integrating it into the work they are doing so collectively you can expect to see some cool things next year.

3. Goals for the Upcoming Year

  1. To enhance our external social media platforms. I think we made a good start in these areas but in 2011 we can plan to do more. We will generate more content (videos, blogs, etc.) to give people a fuller picture of the work SHRM is doing as a global organization.
  2. Annual Conference 2.0 — We are already working on some interesting things for 2011 to really increase engagement via social media. The feedback we received from the Social Media Lounge, The Blog Squad and TweetUp last year has now set the bar much higher and I think we are up to the challenge. At least from a social media perspective, we want to make sure what happens at Annual Conference in Vegas doesnt just stay in Vegas!
  3. Equip our Leaders and Members with Social Media Tools — I think that we will be in a position next year to provide more tools for our Volunteer leaders and our Members which will enable to understand the power and potential of social media. As I mentioned before, we have a great cross-divisional initiative going on here at SHRM that is going to better equip our employees in the social media space which we can then pass along to our leaders and members.
  4. Blogapalooza 2011 — We really want to get out there among the members to talk about social media and also listen to some of the best practices happening in the “field”. In my travels this year, I have met SHRM members like yourself (who by the way along with Victorio are doing some great work with #ProjectSocial) who are making some great strides in social media. We can assist as well as learn from these experiences as well. I am headed to Ohio in Dec and some of our other state conferences in 2011 so the tour bus is ready to roll.
  5. SHRM11 — As I mentioned before we looked at Annual Conference 2010 as a launch pad for enhanced social media engagement. Since then, we have had a presence at our SHRM Thought Leaders Retreat, SHRM Strategy Conference and our Diversity and Inclusion Conference. You will be happy to know that Annual Conference 2011 will be the next step in that progression. As is everything at SHRM its a team effort, so we are working witn a number of departments here on a social media presence that will build upon last year’s “beta test”. Stay tuned.

Peer reviews (360 feedback)

In an effort to get a well-rounded review for Curtis, I asked a few people to tell me about their own perception of him and the work he’s done so far. I asked for honest feedback, and that’s what I got!

I have met with Curt several times (at SHRM conferences) and found him to be engaging and knowledgeable. The overall impression he gives regarding the possibility of national SHRM adopting social media and encouraging its use is commendable. I still see national SHRM conferences offering sessions that lean more toward the control of employee use of social media platforms, but I do not see this as something that Curt alone can impact.

I would like to see him continue to reach out to HR practitioners in the field who are using sites in their organizations successfully. By sharing those cases with SHRM leadership, he’ll continue to advance the positive image we need. I also recommend having Curt pull together a round table of these same professionals to talk with SHRM leadership about the benefits and how we’ve overcome the concerns of social media use. —Trish McFarlane

Curtis has done the best job he can in his short time with SHRM. He in essence has two bosses, the people at SHRM and the social media HR community. SHRM writes the checks. The challenge lies with SHRM itself and the red tape and seas that Curtis must navigate to help bridge the gap between SHRM and social media.

I would like to see Curtis spending more time engaging and leveraging the social media HR community while also learning more about what it’s like to be a HR practioner. I’d recommend that Curtis spend at minimum four weeks shadowing a typical member and learning about some of the obstacles and issues they face. This will increase his knowledge and credibility among the human resource members he serves. —Jessica Miller-Merrill

As a member and volunteer leader, I was super-pleased when SHRM named Curtis to his position (better late than never, hey SHRM?).  He’s had a lot to accomplish in a short time, but has gamely engaged with his audience of members; an audience which is often clueless, afraid and reluctant    I particularly enjoyed participating in the Curtis-led CLA Membership webinar – “Social Media for Chapters and State Councils.”  Well played Curtis – I hope you can keep it going! —Robin Schooling, SPHR

And that, my friends, is a review! Have any thoughts on the work Curtis is doing? Let’s hear ’em!